The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1887-10-12

| tender of Boston. who, had he not i pas
eenger the fated train, would have been well
coined in Chicago by his relatives, whom he has
not seen for years. His injuries are for the
his recovery is possible. He was able to tell OF
| the awful occurrence as follows:
II was in the passenger coach which was next
to the last car In the train. just before mid
night went into the smoker, which was just
ahead of our car, and chatted for hour and
came back to the with young man who sat
down near me- That is the last I've seen, or
expect to see OF the poor fellow. just as had
stretched myself out to go to sleep. and just be-
fore closed my eyes. there was awful crash,
which. God help me! never want to hear again.
could feel myself thrown violently toward the
top of the car. and then I became insensible.
On the way up realized that all was confusion
in the car-that canes, valises and rods of iron
were in the air about ms I must have
regained consciousness in very
short time, for when awoke all was darkness
in the car, and horrible shrieks and piercing
walls of agony almost deafened my ears. In the
end of the car. furthest from me, the stove was
overturned and the flames were just starting to
spread with magic rapidity. There was some
sort of a new gas lamp In the car, with reser-
voirs reaching from one to the other. The
flames leaped up the sides. and in less time than
I can tell it, the gas burning the whole
length Of the coach over our heads / was
wedged in between two seats where / could not
move a limb of my body and there watched the
fire slowly creep upon me. It was terrible
sight In the end Of the coach near
the fire I could q lady caught
between the seats was The
FIRE slowly crept across the car; she was soon en-
veloped in flames, and then In agony she burned
before my eyes. just across from my seat
noticed, just before the accident, father. his
wife and daughter saw them, also, crushed
together and burned. Just as the flames were
blazing a foot or two away from me, e man
pulled me into the aisle and said Come to the
window He must have mistaken me for some
one else, for the moment he had looked closely
at my face, he dropped me and hurried through
the window with exclam alton of evident dis
appointment. then painfully crawled after
him in safety"
This afternoon, when the reporters. who had
been long delayed in reaching Kouts, owing to
the secretiveness of the railroad officials, began
at last to arrive there was little in the aspect of
the village to indicate the calamity that had SO
recently taken place. All the dead bodies had
been carefully removed from sight. only two of
the wounded were still in the village. and the
local employees of tho road were deaf and dumb
to all seekers after Information. The coroner
had been obliged TO 60 to Huntington, over
fifty miles distant, to obtain the statements of
witnesses and the villagers seemed wholly at
sea regarding the extent of tho disaster.
About the only person able and will
ing to tell the details of the
horror was DR. C. w. Mckee. The Doctor is
prosperous looking, intelligent man of about
thirty seven. who promptly responded in the
dead Of night to call that ne take hand-ear
and 20 to the scene of tho wreck, three miles
from his residence. DR.. Mckee rendered noble
service. He had scant time to give his expert
ence in detail, but stated that the beat of his
knowledge il would not be overstating the facts
to say that the collision had cost the lives of
fully thirty persons. It was shortly after
/ o'clock this morning when he reached
the wreck, and he Immediately began
to give his services to the wounded. Those who
were badly hurt when the crash came, he says,
must have had little chance for their lives,
quickly had the cars taken fire, and so thorough
was the work of the flames. AS illustration
of the destruction and of the difficulty of arriv-
ing at correct idea Of its magnitude.th the Doctor
said that probably not a soul would have been
made aware of the all-but total wiping out of
the Miller family of six had not their boy been
saved DR.. Mckee stated that only nine bodies
had been recovered. and they were 90 badly
charred as to be almost beyond recognition. the
most left of any of them being blackened
trunk, and in some cases little beyond few
tandfuls of ashes. The nine were follows:
The Miller family, of Dundee-fathsr, mother.
two brothers and girl (sheir fourteen -year-old
boy Herman. will probably die also) DR.. Perry,
of North Judson Ind; DR.. Perry's wife; DIR.
Perry's daughter. aged eleven. and young
Irish lady.
Superintendent Parsons, OF the Chicago g.
Atlantic, was seen late in the afternoon. gloom
lily pacing the station platform. He was ex-
tremely taciturn, and was very that no
more bodies could be found under the wreck.
Only nine persons had been killed, he Edeclared,
and not more than eleven twelve hurt, mono
of the latter seriously. He admitted that no
fagman had been sent back from the passenger
train when a stop was made. Mr. Parsons said
the train men depended upon a semaphore light
fully 1000 feet in the of where
the stop was made. The conduct
or of tho train had pulled the
cord for this light when he stepped from his
train. This would throw the glare of a red
danger signal on the track. The night how
ever. was foggy. and tho engineer of the fast
freigh. must have failed to the signal.
Superintendent Parsons thought the accident
would have been a very ordinary had not
the stove in the sleeper upset That caused the
destruction of the 81 esper. two coaches and the
baggage car and in the main was doubtless the
cause of the loss of life. Coroner Leatherman.
Mr. Parsons said. reached the scene from VAL
paraiso about 11:30 A. NJ, and after viewing the
debris and making some inquiries, had found it
necessary to GO to Huntington in search Of wit
nesses. The wounded, MIR. Parsons explained,
had been taken there early possible, and
the passengers who were unhurt. to the n lumber
of twenty five. had been forwarded to their
destinations without delay.